In wireless networks, subchannel quality and achievable throughput for each user may vary over time. Allocating bandwidth to users with the highest achievable throughput results in the assignment of bandwidth when channel conditions for that user are most favorable. Wireless access networks that use a multicarrier access technique, such as orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), allow the resource (i.e., subchannels and time-slots) of a frame to be assigned to several users. For example, different users may be assigned different subchannels with the same time-slot. One issue with some conventional wireless access networks is achieving fairness in assigning the resource among competing users.
Thus, there are general needs for systems and methods that allocate subchannels of time-slots to users in a fair manner while maintaining a high overall system throughput. There are also needs to effectively achieve proportional fairness in wireless access networks when frequency selective channel quality information is available.